Time To Rethink Fairfield Hills

To the Editor:

Now after six or seven years of studies and proposals regarding Fairfield Hills it has now become quite apparent to our elected officials that basically every building (with the exception of Bridgeport Hall) has significant functional obsolescence and neglect to deem them all worthy of demolition.

With the closing on the property imminent, and the specter of huge annual mothballing, insurance, and security costs, in addition to the debt service on the purchase and remediation costs for asbestos and other toxins, it is clear that these officials are scrounging around to find ways to recover some costs, the latest being trying to sell off some housing at Fairfield Hills to recoup some of the costs.

In addition, after years of surveys, workshops, and studies we now look to poll the public on why they didn’t approve the last master plan.

I would suggest that our leaders put together, on their own, what they have learned over these many years. Most people have very clear ideas about the future use for the property but are less committed to keeping the current buildings, given their problems.

Perhaps our best solution to Fairfield Hills is to demolish all buildings (except Bridgeport Hall) and rethink the entire campus. There is no reason then to think of the campus in its current configuration.

What our town should be doing right now is hiring full-time paid personnel for the management of the property and a planner and engineer to develop a plan for it. Then, by the time that the demolition and remediation is completed, we will have a well thought out plan for our future campus, not limited by its previous design.

Gary Tannenbaum

Pond Brook Road, Newtown                                        March 14, 2004